4 weeks ( ! )

Lesson 2

My Chinese has slow progress, but at least it is progress! I think listening is the most difficult part. When I hear someone speaking Chinese, I automatically try to translate to Norwegian for analysis. That takes way to much time :p People tell me to relax though, they say it's normal and that it will pass.

On wednesday I volounteered for an english class at a junior highschool. It was fun, but difficult the make them speak English. I'm told that they only do reading and writing at school, and that's why we want to make them listen and speak as well. I'll probably continue as a volounteer in the weeks to come, and so it will be interesting to see how the kids speaking develope.

Last week I was offered private Chinese classes, and I said yes (of course). This thursday was first lection. It was me and another beginner from the Netherlands, and after introduction and the "get to know eachother"-part we spent a lot of time practising days and weeks. Yesterday, tomorrow etc. Now the challenge is to use it in everyday conversation, because everytime I do, my Chinese improves a little bit more ;)

Don't Leave Anything but Footprints,

Don't Take Anything but Photos

a sign at the trail entrance

Today I went hiking the mountains behind NCCU. I had bought a map over the area, and we found a waterfall we wanted to explore. It was 1,5 hours walk from the Chinese Language Center. After seeing the waterfall, we walked on to Zhinan Temple, passing Maokong Station and many teahouses on the way. We brought sunscreen, mosquito spray, hats, 2 litres of water each, lunch, map, compass, cameras and were well prepared. As the maps in the trail don't always point north, it's easy to get confused about directions. The compassed made it easier to orient though.

Where to go next? =)

My friend taking pictures of the waterfall

Yes, we saw snakes. We also met salamanders,
big, flying bugs, spiders, dogs and scooters in the trail.